


The Less I Know The Better

by JustYoCasualDumbBitch



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: BDSM, Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Romance, Smut, Trauma, Uncomfortable Moments, alternative universe, somewhere in the 1700s
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:47:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25271893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustYoCasualDumbBitch/pseuds/JustYoCasualDumbBitch
Summary: This story takes place somewhere in the 1700s. Mary was kidnapped as a little girl and doesn't remember much of her childhood or her parents. When she turns eighteen she is sold off to a forced marriage but manages to escape and finds true love and forms true friends while searching for her parents and the life she could've lived.
Relationships: François II de France/Mary I of Scotland | Mary Queen of Scots, Kenna/Sebastian "Bash" de Poitiers, Mary Queen of Scots/Francis de Valois (Reign)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this fanfic is pretty"hard-core" and most definitely isn't suitable for most readers. If you are not comfortable with BDSM, hard-core smut, talking of rape and/or close to rape situations and sex trafficking etc. please do not read further. Some of the topics I write about in this fanfic are extremely hard to write for me, and the reason why I'm writing this is because I want to challenge and practice my writing. I don't want anyone who reads this to feel uncomfortable, so if you can not handle those topics, I ask you not to read this. I have warned you!

"She is rather lovely, isn't she" the old man said forcing Mary to tilt her head upwards. He then moved his other hand to her neck slowly sliding it down to her collarbone. "Very skinny, very pleasant to look at" the man continued. His breath stunk and he was also shorter than Mary was. He had very little hair left growing on his head and his posture was extremely crooked.

"She is yours for 500 pounds" the other man behind Mary said and that made her feeling like she is going to puke. She was sleeping calmly in her room that she shared with three other girls named Greer, Aylee and Lola when she was waken up and dragged here to be shown to this man. She didn't want to be sold to anyone especially to this old man. The disgusting old man took a step back eyeing Mary from head to toe. Her only dress suddenly felt so tight around her skinny body, or what was left of the dress. A dull brown dress with a tight corset of the same color. The dress was also shorter than it should be since it wasn't exactly her size. She had gotten the dress from another girl when she was sold off to some man far away some years ago.

"Isn't 500 pounds a bit much. Could we make it 400?" the old man smiled a nasty smile, his teeth looked like something out of a horror movie.

"I can assure you she is one of the finest girls we have" the other man who stood behind Mary said. He has moved closer now and she felt him touch her hair and swirling it around his finger. "She is so fine that it pains me to watch her go" Mary tried not to gag.

"If she is your finest girl, why haven't you tried to sell her before?" the old man asked clearly not convinced. Mary then remembered that she wasn't the first girl in their group of kidnapped girls to be sold to this old man. If she remembers correctly she is the third or fourth. She wondered what must have happened to the girls before her, did he kill them? Raped them and got them pregnant, then died at child birth? Does this man have some sort of deadly disease? All the possibilities just ran around her head and the idea of what might happen to her next made her scared.

"She only recently came to age. We don't want to sell children to our customers do we?" the dark haired rather buff man said as he stopped playing with her hair.

"Well, if you assure me" the old man said. Oh now this was it, she was going to be sold to this old hag of a man. The old man called his servant in, a young boy with dark brown hair, pretty green eyes and good facial features who apparently carried his money and started counting 500 pounds. He then handed the money to the man who originally had stood behind Mary.

"It is settled then" he said before turning to Mary who was now shaking with fear "Say hello to your new husband to be" he said with a ugly smirk and left the room. She was now the property of this old man whose name she didn't even know. This old man who only bought her because of her looks. Bought her to be his wife.

"Come along then" the old man said trying to take Mary's hand to pull her out of the room but she twitched before he could touch him. "You are not going to play that game with me girl!" the old man said with a harsh tone. "Make sure to get her to the carriage while I go fill in the paper work" the old man said to his servant before he walked out of the room. It was not just the servant boy and Mary.

"I don't know how he thinks you could be able to get me to the carriage" Mary said eyeing the servant, she didn't know why she said what she said because the servant most definitely could force her to the carriage with out a problem. He stood almost two heads taller than her, he wasn't buff but he did have muscles more than normally a servant would have. His shirt was pretty tight around his biceps and from that Mary figured out that he too probably didn't have many spear clothes but she wasn't sure, she hadn't seen many people in her life.

"Trust me, I don't want to force you, but unfortunately I am in dept to my Lord so I have to tell as he does. I am sorry" the servant said and Mary could tell from the look that he gave her that he was truly sorry. He placed a firm hand on her upped back and walked her outside where she started crying. "Hey don't cry-" the servant tried.

"Good for you to say, you are not going to be forced to marry that man" Mary said as she shook slightly. "I'm scared" she admitted quietly.

"I understand" the servant said as he helped Mary into the carriage. Apparently neither the servant or the old man came with the same carriage as she did. The ride was long and she had no idea where they were or where they were going. She ended up crying herself to sleep. 

* * *

The next time she woke up she was in a bed. In a proper bed, not in one of the beds she used to sleep in her whole life. Or since she was eight or so years old. That's when they found her alone wandering around the city. She thought they were helping her only to soon find out that they basically had kidnapped her, took her with them and put her for sold in sex trafficking. Or wife selling was what they called it but in reality it was way too close to sex trafficking to be anything else. Mary doesn't remember much of her life before that. She sometimes in her sleep sees some fleeting imagines or small memories of her life when she was a kid, but she can't be sure of they are real memories or just something her brain makes up.

She tried to turn to her side only to realize that she couldn't move. She was tied down on the beg from her hands. Mary tried to pull her hands out of the ropes only causing them to wrap tighter around her wrist. She tried so long using her whole power to try and pull her hands free from the ropes, she could soon see blood slowly starting to slide down her arm but she wasn't going to give up. She wanted out, she wanted to leave, she didn't want to be this mans property.

Mary stopped her attempts of escaping the ropes and laid flat down on the bed. At least the bed was decent. The sleep took her without her even realizing and the next time she woke up was when she heard the door open.

"Oh you are awake" the old man said moving closer to the bed and sitting in the edge of it. Mary tried to move further away from him but she couldn't. "I'm sorry about the ropes, I just had to make sure you won't escape" he smiled that nasty smile. "I have arranged the wedding for next week, before that you won't leave this bed" he said in a harsh tone. He moved closer and to touch Mary's arm. "I honestly don't know how I could stay away from you before that" he said and then he was quiet like he was thinking "but I don't have to stay away from you don't I, you are my property now" he said moving closer to Mary.

"No, stop" Mary tried to cry out but her voice was hoarse. The man didn't even listen when he forcefully grabbed Mary's leg and pulled her body towards him.

"Don't fight" the old man warned her but that was exactly what she did. She couldn't use her arms but her legs weren't tied so she used as much power as she had to kick the man as hard as she could. That only infuriated the old man more. He slapped Mary on her cheek as he grabbed both of her legs. She tried her best to kick her legs out of his grasp until he let go from one of her legs and she kicked him in the face so hard that he fell to the floor. He didn't get up, he just laid there and Mary wasn't even sure if he was breathing or did she kill him.

"Help!" was the only this she could think of screaming and so she screamed for help again and again. Surely he would have some sort of servants here. She was just about to give up on screaming when someone opened the door. The same young servant who was there when he bought Mary. She couldn't read his expression when he saw the old man laying on the floor and Mary tied to the bed. "Please, help me out of these ropes" Mary cried.

"W-what happened" he asked moving closer to the bed. "Did you kill him?" he asked clearly shocked.

"I don't know, but can you please help me" Mary asked tears still streaming down her cheeks. The boy walked next to the bed and took out a knife to cut the ropes and he had the other one cut when the old man started to stir. The servant dropped the knife on the bed as he noticed the old man starting to get up, he was clearly furious. The servant mouthed Mary the word sorry before he hided behind the same door where he came from. Seems like the old man didn't notice the servant because his eyes were on Mary.

"What the fuck is wrong with you" the old disgusting man yelled as he got up. "You are going to get what you deserve. I'm going to destroy you and then send you back to where you came from!" he growled as he got closer again.

Mary did the only thing she could and grabbed the knife with her one free hand and stabbed the man in his throat before he could touch her. Then all she could see was the blood gushing out of the cut and his mouth as he fell against the bed, all she could hear was her own hear beating fast. The adrenaline in her body was the only thing moving her. She took the knife and with shaky hands cut the rope on her other hand.

She ran out of the room, her dress was covered with his blood, her hands were covered in his blood. She didn't know where she was running but she ran. She ran past the servant boy who looked more confused than ever. She ran until she found her way out of the house.

It was cold outside and she had no idea where she was. Mary didn't care she kept running along the road. She was finally free. After so many years for the first time she wasn't just someones property anymore, she was free. She is not her own master, nobody could tell her what to do and what not to do. So she ran until her bare feet were some from the small rocks on the road. Mary wasn't sure how far she ran but she decided to slow down and sit for a minute. The tree next to the road worked perfectly and she sat down next to it leaning her back against it and closing her eyes for a moment.

Mary soon heard someone running on the same road towards her. She quickly opened her eyes and say that it was the servant.

"Thank God I found you" he said just a little bit out of breath.

"Why?" Mary asked confused. "If you are planning to take me back, I refuse, for the first time in my life I am free, I'm not going to give that up" She quickly added as she realized that he could force her back to the men who sold her.

"Don't worry" he chuckled "Thanks to you, I'm no longer in dept to him so that means I'm free to go back to my family" he smiled happily but his smile disappeared when he noticed that Mary didn't look happy. "What is it, what's wrong" he asked sitting down next to her.

"I have no idea where I am or where to go" Mary said as she let out a cry "I don't know my family, I don't even know if I have a family" she cried.

"You don't know your family?" the boy asked and she nodded. "Okay get up" he said to Mary as he stood up.

"What?" Mary asked him confused.

"Well I can't leave you in the streets can I?" the dark haired boy joked.

"I don't even know your name" Mary said as she stood up too.

"Sebastian, but you can call me Bash" he smiled.

"You really don't have to help me Bash, you even said yourself that you were in dept to that man, how could you look after me" Mary tried to protest.

"Yes I said that I was in dept to him, but my family isn't" he smirked.

"What do you mean?"

"Last year I took of and went gambling and I lost to him really badly and I didn't want to tell my family out of shame so I offered to work for him" he explained as they started walking. He told her a lot about his family, turns out they actually are pretty rich, Bash is the oldest of the children. His mother had died when he was a kid and then his father Henry married his new wife Catherine and they had like ten children together.


	2. Chapter 2

The walk seemed to last forever until they finally arrived to the gate of a beautiful house in the middle of the woods. The house wasn't that big, little bit smaller than the old mans house, but it was clear that they had no problem getting bread on their table. In that moment Mary realized that Bash had never told her what his family does for a living. She could imagine his father being a Duke or something. As they reached the gate Mary could see someone through the bars of the gate. A young girl with warm brown hair like caramel and slightly tanned skin. The dress she had on seemed really fancy but nothing extra. It was white and it flowed loosely on the wind as she walked through the garden.

Bash pushed the gate open and the girl probably heard the sound of it and turned to look at us. He let me go through the gate first and I could see the girl running towards us with a big smile on her face. Bash closed the gate and as soon as he turned around the girl basically jumped into his arms wrapping her hands around his neck.

"I missed you so much" the girl said as she hugged Bash tightly. Seemed like they were together? Engaged? Married even? And for some reason that made Mary's heart sink a little. It's not like she had feelings for Bash, even though he had saved her. Okay maybe she did have a little bit of feelings for him.

"Kenna, I want you to meet Mary" Bash said smiling and Kenna turned to look at her and smiled sweetly.

"Hi! I'm Kenna, Bash's fiancee" she smiled. So they are engaged.

"Nice to meet you" Mary said and gently shook Kenna's hand.

"How do you know each other?" Kenna asked.

"I was visiting the Wellingtons for business while I was on my travels and there was a little incident. Mary was... there and I helped her escape" Bash tried to explain, he was clearly not sure if he should tell Kenna the whole truth of the story.

"Oh, were you also doing some business there or?" Kenna asked.

"No, I uh. I was supposed to marry him" Mary said quietly. Kenna let out a little oh sound at that and looked Mary like she wanted to know more but was too embarrassed to ask for it out loud. "I umm. I was sold to him" she continued.

"So you are from..." Kenna started but didn't finish her sentence. Mary just nodded to her. "Oh you poor thing" Kenna said and pulled Mary to her embrace. Mary was slightly shocked about her reaction, she expected her to be disgusted about her past seeing that Kenna seemed to be a woman of class. "I'm sorry to ask but... you don't know your family, don't you?" she continued after the hug.

"No, I lost them when I was little. I- I don't even know what happened to them" Mary told her. 

"Oh I'm so sorry" Kenna said with a small frown.

"No it's fine. I just can't help wondering what happened to them" Mary confessed.

"Okay lets get you inside" Bash said as he headed towards the house. Kenna took Mary's hand and they followed him inside. Almost as soon as they got inside they were greeted by a man who seemed to be Bash father Henry.

"Bash, it's so good to see you again. I see you've brought a guest" he said once he saw Mary. She still had on her one and only dress and she could sense him judging her. 

"Father, this is Mary" Bash said, they chatted a bit before a woman appeared with two young boys. Mary soon learned that that woman is Catherine, Henry's wife and their youngest sons, Charles and Henri. 

They went to sit down and Mary told them her story. Henry seemed suspicious but Catherine swore that they would help her and that she could stay with them as long as she wants. Catherine then helped Mary into their guest chamber and gave her some of her old dresses. Catherine then told the servants to help Mary bathe and dress for the supper.

The warm water felt so good against her skin. She had never had a proper warm bath before, or not that she could remember. She took her time washing herself and soon ended up tearing open one of her scabs from earlier but she didn't care. She just sat there watching as the blood gently mixed with the bath water. Once she started feeling a little bit lightheaded she decided to get out of the bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while to post this. I wanted to rewrite this chapter bc I wasn't exactly happy with the first versions of it :)


	3. chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took me so freaking long to update, I started school again and my depressed ass has had to use all my energy just to get up and go study so I haven't had much left over energy to write. This chapter had been in writing for weeks and I finally finished editing it, still not super proud of it but here we go. Also sorry for the chapter that was before this, it was fucking crap and short so lol sorry!

Mary walked towards the room where they were supposed to have the feast. She felt weird in a proper dress, she got it from Catherine. A wine red long sleeve dress that had small gold details. She stopped outside the door taking a few breaths and thinking everything she had been through so far. She leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes for a second but she was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a familiar voice calling her.

"Mary come on everyone is waiting to meet you" Kenna said smiling and took Mary's hand as they entered the room. Everyone else was already sitting around the table. Catherine and Henry was there with their two youngest children and Bash who Mary had already once met. Then there was all the other of their kid she still hasn't met. A little bit younger girl with brunette messy hair, a older girl with light curly hair in a clean bun at the back if her head and next to her sat a man, probably her husband. On the other side of them was a man who smiled at Mary as she entered, he had blond curly hair and the most gorgeous pair of eyes Mary had ever seen.

"You can go sit there, I'll go sit next to Bash" Kenna said as she skipped over to Bash and the only empty place left was the seat between Catherine and the blond boy. Mary took her seat as Catherine started to talk.

"Mary you haven't met rest of the family yet" she started turning to face Mary "this is Claude, our youngest daughter" Catherine said as the brown haired girl smiled at her and waved. "This is Elizabeth our oldest daughter and her husband Philippe" she continued and the girl with light hair and the man next to her smiled at Mary "And this is our oldest son Francis" Catherine finished pointing at her son. Mary turned around in her chair to look at the gorgeous blond boy sitting next to her, he smiled at her and Mary smiled back. "oh and everyone who hasn't still met Mary, this is her, she will be staying with us for a while now" Catherine added as couple servant bought them food.

"It is so nice to meed you all and I'm so thankful for you allowing me to stay" Mary said shyly as they started to eat their feast. Mary wasn't quite sure what it was or how to use the thing the others were using to eat it. Mary watched what Kenna did and then copied her actions. It tasted delicious, nothing like Mary had ever eaten before.

"So um, Mary where did you come from?" she heard Claude ask and she almost choked on her food.

"Well umm" Mary stated, she wasn't sure what to say. "I uh.." she started to feel anxious since everyone was looking at her waiting for her answer.

"I met Mary while I was visiting the Wellingtons close by" Bash started. "Her family lives far far away so I offered her to come stay with us" Mary smiled at Bash a thanks for saving her from that situation. Claude did't seem to believe him but she let it slide and continued eating her food. They all continued to eat their suppers.

"I have to say that the food is absolutely delicious, nothing like I have ever tasted before" Mary said with a smile and Claude looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" Claude chuckled. "This is barely nothing special"

"Well I uhh.. I have never eaten anything this good before" Mary admitted and Claude giggled.

"What are you" she giggled "Do you come from servant or something?" Mary felt her heart jump to her throat from Claude's words.

"Claude stop that, that's not polite" Henry said while shooting his daughter a look of disapproval. Claude stopped giggling and continued to eat. For the rest of the dinner everyone was quiet, except Charles and little Henri who were telling stories to their mother.

Mary was glad when they finished eating and Kenna stole her to come walk with her. Kenna was eager to show Mary the gardens and so they went there, they walked hand in hand like old friends while they enjoyed the warm summer day. Kenna was telling Mary stories about her life and how she and Bash met. Apparently Kenna came from a rich family, her father was a relative to the Pope so they have strong ties just like the Valois family. Her father sent her here not because she was supposed to "Fall in love with someone from the Valois family and get married" like she said it but instead she and Bash fell in love. Kennas father was disappointed at first and she almost got disowned but when Kenna proved them how much she and Bash loved each other they allowed their engagement.

Mary was listening only half of what her friend said to her while she was in her daydream world wondering what her life could have been like if she hadn't gotten kidnapped when she was eight. Or what her family would have been like? What station did she come from? What if she actually came from servants? She knew that she couldn't get answers to her questions and that made her sad because she was desperate to know.

Mary's daydreams were stopped when she heard someone clear their throat behind her and Kenna. They turned around exactly at the same time and they were greeted with the blond boy with the gorgeous blue eyes.

"Hey" he smiled a sweet smile "I hope I didn't interrupt anything?"

"No we were just chatting" Kenna smiled back

"I was wondering if you would like to join me for a ride?" Francis asked turning his attention to Mary.

"Me? a- a ride? You mean like on a horse?" Mary asked slightly confused and Kenna giggled at her confusion.

"Yes on a horse" Francis chuckled "If you don't know how to ride I can teach you" he offered.

"Well I have never even tried to ride so, if you a-absolutely want to teach me to ride then I guess so" Mary smiled shyly.

"Shall we go then?" he asked and they started walking towards the stables with Kenna behind them. "Do you want to come riding as well?" Francis asked her when they reached the stables.

"Oh God no" Kenna laughed "I just wanted to come see how well Mary can ride" she said with a snicker.

"It can't be that hard can it?" Mary asked now a little bit scared.

"Don't worry, I'll let you ride the easiest horse we have" Francis reassured her and he could see Mary's shoulders relax a bit. It didn't take long till the stable boy gave them their horses, one bay colored and one chestnut. Francis took the bay horse while the stable boy gave Mary the chestnut one.

"Uh, I don't know how to get on him" Mary said feeling a little unsure about getting on the huge animal and riding it.

"Don't worry, I'll help you" Francis smiled as he got behind Mary and placed his hands on her hips which made Mary froze for a second "I'll count to three and then you have to jump so i can push you up, okay?" he gave her instructions and Mary nodded. Francis started counting and on three Mary jumped up and he pushed her more up so that she could get on the horse while Kenna giggled as she watched Mary struggle with her balance.

After she got on her horse and felt somewhat secure on the saddle and Francis got on to his horse they started walking. Mary mostly focused on just holding on so she didn't fall off. Luckily the horse she was riding did pretty much everything for her and Mary's horse just followed Francis' horse as they walked away from the stables where Kenna waved to them before she started walking back inside to the house.

"See it isn't that hard right?" Francis asked after couple minutes.

"Well I'm not doing anything except holding on" Mary chuckled nervously "He's just following your horse"

"Yeah I know, that's why I gave him to you because he's so easy to ride" he smiled and then they were quiet again.

"So, where are we going?" Mary finally asked when they entered a forest trail.

"I haven't decided yet actually" he admitted "I was supposed to go riding with Bash but then he got something else to do with hi's and Kenna's wedding planning so I just thought that maybe you would like to come ride with me"

"Well I bet that bash would have been a million more times better riding company than me she giggled "I can barely stay on the horse"

"Don't worry, you'll learn" he smiled and Mary could feel her cheeks heat up a little bit, she wasn't used on someone being so kind to her.

They continued riding on the trail that was surrounded by beautiful old trees that were starting to turn orange and red from some parts. Mary enjoyed the last of the sun rays that the ending summer would grant her as the wind also grew more cooler. She was also getting the hand of the horse riding, she wasn't so scared of falling of anymore and she was also getting more control to the animal. After a while they spoke again.

"I have to ask you something" Francis started and Mary turned her head to look at him "Who are you really?"

"What do you mean?" Mary chuckled nervously.

"I noticed that you are wearing my mothers old dress and Bash wouldn't bring here anyone just because their family lives far away. I know that my half-brother want's to help people but he wouldn't go to such lengths just for someone who could survive on their own. And also the story that Bash told that you were visiting the Wellingtons sound suspicious, I'm pretty sure I remember him not liking people so I don't think he would accept having visitors there" Francis explained while Mary stayed quiet thinking what to answer.

"Well Bash and I met while I was at the Wellingtons and yes this is your mothers old dress, she borrowed it to me since I.. i didn't have much else to wear" Mary answered after carefully thinking her every word.

"That still doesn't answer my question Mary" Francis said softly. Mary thought for a while but couldn't come up with anything to say but then Francis shot her a pretty harsh question "Mary.. what is your last name?" Mary felt a small pain in her chest after he asked her that because she had no idea. "I noticed that no one was never addressing you with your full name so i was just wondering what is it"

"I- I don't know" Mary admitted.

"You don't know your last name?" Francis turned to look at her confused and Mary shook her head, she didn't trust her voice to say no. "I'm so sorry" Francis said while he stopped his horse to look at Mary who was not trying to fight of her tears as she got emotional about the fact that she doesn't know her last name or anything else about who she truly is. "Do you want to talk about it, you don't have to if you don't want to and I'm sorry I asked I didn't realize that-"

"No it's fine you couldn't have known" Mary stopped him while she quickly wiped her tears before they could roll down her cheeks. "I can tell you the truth but please don't tell anyone, so far only Bash, Kenna and your parents know" Mary sniffled.

"I promise that I won't tell anyone" Francis promised her and so Mary started to tell her story about how she doesn't remember her childhood, how she was kidnapped and the three girls who were with her while they were held captive and how they were her only safety for the years as she grew up. Mary told him everything about being sold to mr. Wellington and how she was supposed to become his wife but he ended up tying her to a bed and almost raping her and how she escaped with little help from Bash and she told Francis how she killed him and how Bash ended up bringing Mary here. She told him everything she could remember of her childhood, all the small fleeting imagines and dreams she has had and how she wasn't sure if they were real, she told him how desperate she was to find out about her family and how she wanted to know who she could have been if her life didn't happen like this.

Mary also opened up about how she misses the three other girls that were staying with her at the horrible place and that she wasn't sure what was going to happen to them and if something has already happened to them. What if they all had been sold already? And how she was sure that she would never meet them again and how much she missed them because they were her only safety she felt when she was growing up. They always looked after each other and now that Mary wasn't with them anymore she felt like she was all alone in a scary big new unknown world.

Francis only listened to her, he let her get it all out. He tried to understand all that he could, but of course he couldn't understand all the trauma and emotional pain behind the story. After she was done bleeding the whole story out of her, he swore that he would help her, that his whole family would help her. He also promised that he would talk to Bash and see if they could somehow arrange Mary's friends to be freed from that horrible place.

Mary felt more than thankful for Francis. It felt so good to tell someone the whole story without them interrupting and letting her tell every single detail. Without having anyone question her feelings. Mary was surprised herself that she was able to tell all that to Francis but for some reason something inside of her told her to trust him. She also felt like a weight was being lifted a little from the chest when she finished her story. She was so grateful when Francis promised to try and save her friends. She felt so much closer to him than she fad felt with anyone in a long long time.

They spent a long time talking about stuff and they started going back to the house only when the sun started to set. Once they got back it was almost dark. Francis took the horses back to the stable and let the stable boy handle them while Mary waited outside for him.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked as he walked back outside where Mary stood leaning on the wall next to the stable door.

"I feel much better, thank you" she smiled "You have no idea how good it felt to get all that out, and I'm so thankful that you listened to me"

"I just wanted you to feel better" Francis smiled at her but Mary could see that he was worried, she didn't know what exactly.

"Should we go back inside? It's getting cold" Mary said as she rubbed her arms with her hands to warm herself up a bit.

"Yeah we probably should" Francis let out a small chuckle before they started walking towards the house. "But hey you weren't that bad at riding"

"I give all the credit to the horse, I didn't do anything" Mary admitted with a small laugh.

"Well it still could have gone worse" he commented as they got inside.

Mary got into her chambers and changed into her nightgown and climbed under the covers, it took her a while until she fell asleep. She felt so much better after telling him everything but there was still a heavy weight resting on her chest as sleep took her.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all liked the first chapter of this story. I've had this and couple more chapter written ready but I wasn't sure if I should post them but here we go so I really hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
